22 Oct 2019: UPSC Exam Comprehensive News Analysis

A. GS1 Related

Category: SOCIAL ISSUES

1. U.P. tops in crimes against women, says NCRB report

B. GS2 Related

Category: INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

1. U.S. is quietly reducing its troops in Afghanistan

C. GS3 Related

Category: ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

1. Many hydropower projects could face closure

Context:

India plans to frame rules to regulate social media citing unimaginable disruption to democracy and the growing menace of fake news.

Details:

• Currently, liabilities of the intermediaries on online content is governed by the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules operational from April 2011.
• The government now says that they recognise that rules need to be revisited and has initiated a consultation process on framing the revised guidelines.
• The government aims to ramp up the regulatory regime considering the ever-growing threats to individual rights and the nation’s integrity, sovereignty, and security.
  • The government said that the new Information Technology Intermediaries Guidelines (Amendment) Rules would be notified by January 15, 2020.
  • The response from the government came on the case seeking to trace the origin of messages on WhatsApp.
  • And the government’s planned rules come amid a growing list of nations that seek to regulate social media content to fight online crimes and fake news.

Internet – the double-edged sword:

• With lower Internet tariffs, availability of smart devices and last-mile connectivity, more and more people in India are becoming part of the Internet/social media platforms. Consequently, there has been an enormous increase in the use of social media.
• If on the one hand technology has led to economic growth and societal development, on the other hand, there has been an exponential rise in hate speech, fake news, public order, anti-national activities, defamatory postings, and other unlawful activities using Internet/social media platforms.
• The Tamil Nadu government (with one of the cases pending in the Madras High Court) has argued that social media should be more transparent and cooperative with the police for purposes of crime detection, national security, etc.

What are the concerns raised by Social Media intermediaries?

Social media intermediaries like Facebook and WhatsApp have argued that “seeking to trace the origin of messages” would lead to loss of individual privacy.

Way forward:

• Cooperation of social media intermediaries is necessary for cracking cybercrimes, keeping a check on fake news, defamatory postings, etc.
• The government must work with internet service providers, search engines and social media platforms to frame the guidelines.
• While the government must ensure that privacy is not compromised, Social Media companies must not take umbrage under the right to privacy.

D. GS4 Related

E. Editorials

Context

• The Union Home Ministry has recently requested the Bureau of Police Research and Development to overhaul the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC)

Why is change a necessity?

• In colonial times, the primary function of police was to maintain the stability of the British Empire
  • In the British era, the police were raised to protect their interests, but now their duty is to protect the people
  • The purpose of the IPC and CrPC has shifted from preservation of the British Empire to the welfare of people, and this has to be reflected in the provisions and application of the code.
• The idea behind the overhaul is to change the “master-servant concept” envisaged in the IPC

Examples

• IPC has provided “uneven punishment for crimes of grievous nature”.
  • For crimes such as snatching of chains or bags could be life-threatening in some cases, but the IPC does not provide punishment that is commensurate with the gravity of the crime
  • Currently awarding of these punishments depends on the whims of the police, it is booked under robbery or theft. So a need for standardization is a must.
• The amendments introduced in the IPC have been ad hoc and reactive, in response to immediate circumstances
  • Like the 2013 amendment after the Delhi gangrape case.
  • After a long agitation Section 377 was decriminalised.
  • In another big verdict, the Supreme Court decriminalised adultery
• The IPC has provisions dealing with sexuality, procreation and marriage and the implications of the operation of this part of IPC raises complex issues of privacy and discriminatory application of law to men and women.
• The distinction between “culpable homicide” and “murder” was criticized even by Stephen as the “weakest part of the code”, as the definitions are obscure.
  • Example: Tabrez Ansari Case- In Jharkhand Mob Killing
• Having the death penalty on the statute book is also contrary to the ideas of humanizing criminal justice response and punishment for the offender.
  • Keeping of death penalty in the IPC had a different objective in the beginning as the state wanted to profess a retributive stance and deterrent move for potential offenders and against the people joining mutiny.
  • All such reasons have now vanished and the presence of death penalty in master criminal law of India defies modern principles of penology and rehabilitation.

Even though the IPC has been haphazardly amended more than 75 times, no comprehensive revision has been undertaken in spite of the 42nd report of the law commission in 1971 recommending it. Hence, to bring this into action the home ministry has constituted two committees comprising legal luminaries for the purpose.

Changes to be introduced should be clear

• The reason for this decision, the direction the exercise should take, and the changes envisaged in the laws are not clear. Therefore, before introducing changes, the Home Ministry must first identify the provisions to be revised and provide a justification for doing so.
• The clarity required for the creation of new offences, reclassification or removal of existing offences, and changes to the quantum of punishment is missing from the discourse.

Keeping principles in mind

Criminal law is considered to be the most apparent expression of the relationship between a state and its citizens. Any revision of the IPC, therefore, needs to be done while keeping several principles in mind.

1. First, victimological underpinnings ought to be given a major thrust in reforming laws to identify the rights of crime victims.

• The launch of victim and witness protection schemes, use of victim impact statements, advent of victim advocacy, increased victim participation in criminal trials, enhanced access of victims to compensation and restitution all point towards the increased role of victims in the criminal justice system.
  • “Victims” means persons who, individually or collectively, have suffered harm, including physical or mental injury,
  • Victimology: The study of the victims of crime and the psychological effects on them of their experience.

2. Second, construction of new offences and reworking of the existing classification of offences must be informed by the principles of criminal jurisprudence which have substantially altered in the past four decades.

• For instance, liability questions in offences need a fresh look. Criminal liability could be graded better to assign the degree of punishments.
• New types of punishments like community service orders, restitution orders, and other aspects of restorative and reformative justice could also be brought in this fold.

3. Third, the scheme of chapters and classification of offences can be drastically reworked.

• Offences like criminal conspiracy, sedition, offences against coin and stamps etc. must be abolished or replaced.
• Chapters of the IPC are overloaded at several places. It is unnecessary to have hundreds of sections in the category of property offences.
• Even the chapters on offences against public servants, contempt of authority, public tranquility, and trespass can be redefined and narrowed.
• New offences under a fresh classification scheme, like those suggested by the Malimath Committee on criminal justice reforms, can be introduced.
• Classification of offences must be done in a manner conducive to management of crimes in the future.

Way Forward

Criminal justice is directionless and in a state of policy ambiguity. India needs to draft a clear policy that should inform the changes to be envisaged in the IPC or CrPC.

• Unprincipled criminalisation must be avoided to save the state from dealing with too many entrants into the criminal justice system.
  • It often leads to not only the creation of new offences on unscientific grounds, but also arbitrariness in the criminal justice system.
• Guiding principles need to be developed after sufficient debate before criminalising an act as a crime.
• There is a need to have empirical legal research showing areas required to be contemplated as new offences in the code.
  • This project must be substantiated by empirical researchers and to be handled by professionals by undertaking extensive pre-legislative surveys.
• To be comprehensive enough, the IPC must also include chapters on cyber laws, economic offences, and terrorist offences in the code. This would be helpful in avoiding duplicity and confusion.
• Finally, these reforms will be of no consequence unless simultaneous improvements are made in the police, prosecution, judiciary and in prisons.

Context

• MIT economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, who, along with Michael Kremer, won the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics for their “experimental approach to alleviating global poverty”, have published a new book, Good Economics for Hard Times.
• In this article, we will be looking at important pointers for revival of economy.

A comparison of India and China

According to Nobel Laureates Growth in India, like that in China, will slow.

• When China was at the same level of per capita GDP as India is today, it was growing at 12% per year, whereas India thinks of 8% as something to aspire to.
• If we were to infer from that, India is placed at a much lower level of per capita GDP than China.

Middle Income Trap

World Bank Classification

• The World Bank classifies the world’s economies into four income groups — high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low.
• It bases this assignment on Gross National Income (GNI) per capita (current US$) calculated using the Atlas method.

Updated Thresholds

• New thresholds are determined at the start of the World Bank’s fiscal year in July and remain fixed for 12 months regardless of subsequent revisions to estimates.

Trap

• This is a risk that emerging economies are said to be vulnerable to.
• As a country runs out of new sources of growth after an initial burst of rapid expansion, it finds itself unable to break into a higher-income league.
• Middle-Income Trap crystalizes the notion that growing rapidly can become more difficult after a country moves up from low income to middle income.
• The transition from middle income to high income is inherently more challenging than the transition from low income to middle income.

According to the World Bank, of 101 middle-income economies in 1960, only 13 had become high income by 2008. Malaysia, Thailand, Egypt, Mexico and Peru all seem to have trouble moving up.

• But India need not worry, but take this as a warning and bring about changes in the overall structure of its economy.
• India has some of the sectors which are yet be explored and the entrepreneurial genius needs to be recognised and revived to discover the unexploited opportunities
• India should understand from history about pro-rich, anti-poor policies not helping the revival of economy.
  • In the U.S. and U.K. in the Reagan-Thatcher era to preserve growth they introduced “business-friendly” policies and environment.
  • This enriched the top earners at the cost of everyone else, and did nothing for growth.
  • If the U.S. and U.K. experience is any guide, asking the poor to tighten their belts, in the hope that giveaways to the rich will eventually trickle down, it does nothing for growth and even less for the poor.
  • Interestingly, even the IMF, so long the bastion of growth-first orthodoxy, now recognises that sacrificing the poor to promote growth was bad policy.

The ultimate goal

• The key, ultimately, is to not lose sight of the fact that GDP is a means and not an end. A useful means, no doubt, especially when it creates jobs or raises wages or plumps the government budget so it can redistribute more.
• But the ultimate goal remains one of raising the quality of life of the average person and especially the worst-off person.
• And quality of life means more than just consumption. While better lives are indeed partly about being able to consume more, even very poor people also care about the health of their parents, about educating their children, about having their voices heard, and about being able to pursue their dreams.

Conclusion

• The best bet, therefore, for a country like India is to attempt to do things that can make the quality of life better for its citizens with the resources it already has: improving education, health and the functioning of the courts and the banks, and building better infrastructure (better roads and more liveable cities, for example).
  • The solutions must be formed with bottom-up perspectives of citizens on the ground, rather than top-down perceptions of investors and policymakers
• For the world of policymakers, this perspective suggests that a clear focus on the well-being of the poorest offers the possibility of transforming millions of lives much more profoundly than we could by finding the recipe to increase growth from 2% to 2.3% in the rich countries.

Context

• The Finance Ministry has announced new corporate tax rates
• It has slashed corporate tax rate for domestic companies to 22% from 30% that don’t avail any exemption/incentive (stopped availing themselves of any other tax sops)

Details

• The effective tax rate for these companies shall be 25.17% inclusive of surcharge and cess. Also, such companies shall not be required to pay Minimum Alternate Tax or MAT
• To attract investment in manufacturing, local companies incorporated after October will pay tax at the rate of 15 percent (compared to 25% currently).
  • The effective tax for these new companies will be 17.01 percent, including cess and surcharge
  • For new manufacturing firms set up after October 1, 2019, and commencing operations by March 31, 2023, the effective tax rate will fall from 29.1% to 17%.
• A company that does not opt for the concessional tax regime and avails the tax exemption/incentive can continue to pay tax at the pre-amended rate. After the expiry of their tax holiday/exemption period, these companies can opt for the new concessional tax regime.
• To provide relief to companies that continue to avail exemptions/incentives, the government has reduced the rate of Minimum Alternate Tax or MAT to 15%, from 18.5%.

Significance

The continuing deceleration of the Indian economy was being blamed both on depressed consumption by private individuals and decline in investment by private businesses

• A lower rate –comparable with Asian peers will make large Indian companies far more competitive, leave them with more cash for investment and expansion and persuade them to stay India
• It restrains India Inc from demanding more sops, putting pressure on them to invest.
• The revised tax rate of Minimum Alternative Tax (MAT) will pave the way for new investments from startups and MSMEs, creating a robust ancillary ecosystem
• The unstated intention could also be to attract foreign investors looking for alternative sites for their global value chains disrupted now by the tariff war between China and the U.S.
• The stock exchanges zoomed within minutes of the news because for most established companies the tax cut would immediately lead to a pro-rata increase in profits.

Concerns

• The revenue foregone for this move will be Rs 1.45 lakh crore annually. The tax revenue may also decline and put pressure on fiscal deficit.
  • Tax collections have not grown at expected rates. This tax cut will lead to lower tax collection in the short to medium-term.
  • To meet the fiscal deficit target, the government has pushed a lot of borrowing off-budget, making government agencies borrow more. If the government then borrows to bridge the gap (on-budget or off-budget), it would limit the benefits for firms.
• These stimulus and structural measures and monetary policy may help reviving the economy to some extent in the near future. But, these measures alone may not help in getting higher growth.
• Higher levels of surplus income with corporates will not necessarily translate into a higher level of investment and a consequent spurt in economic growth.
  • Agriculture and allied sectors and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) — not corporates — are still the strongest drivers of our economy.
  • Agriculture and allied sectors which not only contribute to our food security but to approximately over 50% employment have been on the decline in spite of several ad hoc policy pronouncements to revive them.
• The Chief Economic Advisor also mentions that we need long-term structural reforms for investment-led growth. we need to focus on three structural issues:
  • Physical infrastructure development,
  • raising human capital
  • revival of rural economy
• In a recent book, Dani Rodrik an economist discusses two challenges faced by countries like India.
  • The “fundamentals challenge” relates to development of broad capabilities such as
    • Infrastructure
    • Human Capital.
  • We can’t have higher growth without tackling this fundamental challenge.
  • So the medicine to the plaguing disease is Infrastructure, Infrastructure, and Infrastructure!!!
• A lot of progress has been made in all Infrastructure Sectors. However, almost all indicators score poorly if one looks at India’s urban and rural infrastructure particularly compared with South East Asian countries and China.
• The second structural issue is raising Human Capital for higher growth. Health and education achievements are essential for human capital. Yet the country’s progress on both these aspects leaves much to be desired.
  • There are islands of excellence that can compete internationally in education while vast majority of them churn masses of children with poor learning achievement and unemployable graduates.
  • The Niti Aayog says that only 2.3 per cent of Indian workers have formal skill training compared to 70 to 80 per cent in other countries.

Steps that can be taken

• The report of the expert committee on MSMEs that was set up by the Reserve Bank of India has made significant recommendations.
  • These include constituting a government-sponsored “fund of funds” to support venture capital funds and a credit guarantee fund which would go a long way in enabling their growth.
• Disinvestment, reducing non-merit subsidies, increasing tax base and shifting from revenue to capital expenditures are some of the measures for raising government investment.
• The construction sector was an important source of job creation during 2004-05 to 2011-12. This sector has to be revived in order to create growth and employment. The need of the hour is structural reforms in land acquisition
• Both immediate and long-term structural reforms are needed to achieve higher economic growth. Physical infrastructure development, tackling fundamental challenge of raising human capital and stimulus and reforms in rural economy are needed to achieve a sustainable 7 per cent to 8 per cent growth.
  • Higher levels of public spending for creating much-needed infrastructure in several sectors would not only generate employment but also create productive assets.
  • For instance, spending on buildings, roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and waterbodies would have multiple benefits to the economy.

Conclusion

• If speedily and efficiently implemented, these mundane measures could pull the sagging economy out of the quagmire, especially in the near term, and hopefully incentivise and facilitate the much-anticipated spurt in corporate investment which apparently the government was aiming at while announcing the tax bonanza.

3. Asia’s remarkable economic transformation

Category: HEALTH

1. Safe, but not entirely

Q1. Consider the following statements:

Q2. Consider the following statements with respect to “Project Tiger”:

Q3. The first Pre Independence Law Commission of India was chaired by:

Q4. Consider the following statements with respect to Bhashan Char Island: